Israel’s leaders on Monday marked Memorial Day, a usually somber holiday that this year was almost entirely swallowed up by the ongoing war in Gaza.
At 11:00 a.m., sirens announced two minutes of silence and a formation of four fighter jets flew over Jerusalem and its surrounding areas. At a ceremony, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu once again vowed to defeat Hamas, a promise he has made repeatedly during Israel’s brutal seven-month war against the militant group.
Some 300,000 Palestinians fled Rafah over the weekend as Israeli forces advanced on the southern city, according to UN estimates.
Israel says Rafah is the last stronghold of the Hamas militant group and has vowed to launch a full-scale invasion of the city, but the United States says an offensive on Rafah would jeopardize ceasefire talks and threatened to halt further military aid to Israel. Some 1.4 million Palestinians (more than half of Gaza’s population) had sought refuge in the city.
Israel also attacked devastated northern Gaza, where some Hamas militants have regrouped in areas the army said it had cleared months ago.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated U.S. opposition to a major military strike on Rafah on Sunday, telling CBS that Israel would “be left with the burden of a lasting insurgency” without an exit from Gaza and an exit plan. postwar governance.
The death toll from the war in Gaza has soared to more than 35,000 people, most of them women and children, according to local health officials. Israeli shelling and ground attacks have caused extensive destruction to apartments, hospitals, schools and refugee centers in several cities.
The war began on October 7 when Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping about 250 more. Israel says militants are still holding about 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 others.
At the moment:
— Israel pushes deeper into Rafah and fights Hamas militants regrouping in northern Gaza.
– Blinken offers some of the United States’ strongest public criticism yet of Israel’s conduct in the war in Gaza.
— UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron says stopping arms sales to Israel would only strengthen Hamas.
— With the shock of October 7 still raw, sadness and anger grip Israel on its Memorial Day.
— Pro-Palestinian protests wane on American campuses as some college graduations are marked by defiant acts.
Here’s the latest:
JERUSALEM – Israel’s military said Monday that four of its troops were wounded in missile fire from southern Lebanon, as cross-border gunfire exchanges with Hezbollah militants continued.
Hezbollah acknowledged the attack and said its forces attacked and destroyed an Israeli tank in the Yitfah area of northern Israel, about a kilometer from the Lebanese border.
The Israeli military said one of the soldiers was moderately injured and all were taken to hospital. No further information was immediately available.
Hezbollah and Israel have exchanged fire almost daily along the border since the start of the war in Gaza seven months ago.
The Shiite force, which controls vast areas of southern Lebanon, says it is acting in solidarity with the Palestinian militant group Hamas, whose deadly Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel sparked the war.
Israeli strikes have killed more than 350 people in Lebanon, most of them fighters from Hezbollah and allied groups, but there are also more than 50 civilians. In Israel, attacks from Lebanon have killed at least 10 civilians and 12 soldiers.
JERUSALEM – Israel’s leaders marked Memorial Day on Monday, honoring the country’s fallen soldiers and those killed in attacks, on a holiday that was almost entirely absorbed by the ongoing war in Gaza.
The usually somber calendar event has been compounded by sadness and simmering public anger over the failures of October 7, when Hamas fighters from Gaza swept into southern Israel and killed 1,200 people, mostly Israelis. , the act that unleashed the war. The holiday began Sunday night and continues until sundown Monday.
During the day’s opening ceremony at the Mount Herzl cemetery on the outskirts of Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to once again defeat Hamas, a promise he has made repeatedly during Israel’s brutal seven-month war against the group. militant.
“We are determined to win this fight, we demand and will demand a high price from the enemy for its criminal acts, we will realize the objectives of victory and, at the center of them, the return of all our hostages home,” Netanyahu said from the podium .
Israel responded to the deadly Hamas attack in October by bombing and invading Gaza, killing more than 35,000 Palestinians in the enclave, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry. More than 600 Israeli soldiers have been killed since the war broke out.
Among the other attendees at Mount Herzl was Israeli President Isaac Herzog.
At 11:00 a.m. on Monday, sirens announced two minutes of silence and a formation of four fighter jets flew over Jerusalem and its surrounding areas.
This story originally appeared on ABCNews.go.com read the full story
